A COVENTRY butcher has been fined #5,000 after admitting a series of food safety offences.

Officers with the city's environmental health department who visited the shop found slug and snail trails and dried meat splashes on the wall and open doors.

Ibrar Hussain of Islam Halal Butchers, Stoney Stanton Road, Foleshill, now operating under the name Coventry Halal Butchers, appeared at Coventry Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

He pleaded guilty to five offences including operating a butcher's shop without a licence, failing to keep the premises in a clean condition and failing to protect food from the risk of contamination.

Magistrates fined Hussain, from Birmingham, #5,000.

Officers from the environmental health department visited the premises in May.

They found doors left open allowing flies into the food rooms; slug and snail trails on an internal wall and dried meat splashes on wall surfaces.

Damaged parcel tape was being used to try to seal gaps behind equipment.

Wash hand basins were in a dirty condition suggesting they were not being used and some yoghurt had been left at room temperature.

The shop was selling raw meat as well as ready-to-eat foods, and so required a butcher's licence in accordance with regulations brought into effect in November 2000.

After the case, Geoff Makin, environmental health manager, said: "We are generally pleased with the way butchers in Coventry have followed the licensing system and the level of fines indicate the magistrates recognise the importance of the butchers licensing scheme."